Ex-Bombers left out of the loop by club

Date: February 12 2013

Caroline Wilson

THERE is no easy way to manage an AFL club scandal. And no amount of damage control could have let Essendon off the hook given the timing of the Bombers' decision eight days ago to contact the AFL and call for an ASADA investigation.

Two days after David Evans said he did not believe his players had taken performance-enhancing drugs and James Hird said he would take full responsibility for activity within his football department, the federal government joined forces with the Australian Crime Commission, anti-doping authorities and all major sporting codes to release the frightening findings from a 12-month ACC investigation.

Suddenly Essendon became the national face of performance-enhancing drugs. Despite the fact that the AFL and the players' union remain hopeful no drug cheating took place at the club and the Bombers have remained firm in claiming their innocence, their club remains at the forefront of the national focus into drug cheating.

In a sense this is unfair - certainly for the AFL when you look at the numbers revealed by Fairfax Media. Six NRL clubs are under scrutiny for their personal supplement use - potentially illegal - while only Essendon and one player from one other AFL club is being investigated.

What has further damaged Essendon is the revelation that it is being investigated for administering illegal substances to players without their knowledge or consent. This is a damning allegation and even if it is shown those substances were legal, what is most frightening is that neither Hird, nor Evans, nor chief executive Ian Robson can guarantee it. The club remains troubled by the intravenous drips and the volume of the substance pumped into its players.

On Monday, a further disappointing allegation emerged - that the club had not contacted at least five, and potentially more, compromised former players who have left the club to outline their situation. Fairfax Media was told by representatives of at least five 2012 Essendon players now playing elsewhere that none of their parents had been invited to attend Monday night's parent information session.

Port Adelaide moved on Monday to clarify the circumstances of Angus Monfries and Henry Slattery, having heard nothing from Essendon's football or medical departments. Player managers were also attempting to glean information for other former Bombers.

What the club has done behind the scenes in several cases is shoot the messenger. Not only was Kyle Reimers pilloried publicly in a most irrelevant fashion by Mark McVeigh, but other players have turned collectively upon Reimers and accused others of talking out of school.

Even club officials have turned their attention to other footballers suspected of discussing the chemical activities at Essendon last year. You would think they had enough on their plate, particularly given the coaches now stand accused of taking supplements banned for athletes by WADA.

Evans, as anyone who knows him or has worked with him in football will say, is a decent man. He is in terrible pain right now and has told colleagues and friends that his No. 1 priority is the players. He has taken leave from his business activities to run the club during this crisis.

Evans has written to his members and is speaking frequently with the AFL and the AFL Players Association. The AFLPA in turn addressed the Bombers at Windy Hill on Monday to outline their current circumstances and update their legal situation.

Perhaps Evans' failure to engage with former Bombers was an oversight by his management team.

Surely Robson - who recently took his place on an AFL working party into illicit drugs and has now stood down from that role - or the besieged Hird himself or football chief Danny Corcoran could have dealt with confused, frightened or angry one-time Bombers.